Victim of quota system

The resignation of Mahmoud Al Mashhadani as Speaker of the Iraqi parliament won't be the last of an Iraqi politician stepping down in the new Iraqi era.

His resignation signifies the struggle between key players in Iraqi political process who are jockeying for power as the country prepares for the forthcoming governorate council elections. However, Al Mashhadani's downfall from a position of power is the second such instance which has been systematically prepared and carefully planned by those who want their people to occupy seats of influence.

Ebrahim Al Jafari was the first victim of such manoeuvring. He was removed from his post of prime minister because the Kurdish Alliance demanded to do so. The Kurd's persistence came as a result of Al Jafari's way of dealing with the Kirkuk issue which is considered a red line by the Kurds, where no one is allowed to cross.

The Kurdish Alliance found a great partner in the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), a strong ally which sees eye-to-eye with the Kurds regarding Iraq's future and the federal system's features, including the Kirkuk question. This alliance is not new, as it dates back to the years of apposing the former Iraqi regime during the 1990's. The rapprochement between the SIIC and the Kurds helped create the necessary environment for ousting Al Mashhadani.

During the three years that Al Mashhadani was in office, he had to face a turbulent atmosphere due to the weird political equation in parliament. Al Mashhadani's controversial personality also played a major role in repulsing others. And while his sense of humour made people feel close to him, his rudeness drove them away.

Al Mashhadani was able to stand in the face of so many storms that were on the verge of toppling him; not because of his merits, but due to the co-ordinance equation which rules the parliament's political balances. However, he put himself in a weak position when he started using a language that was deemed unacceptable by almost everyone in the parliament.

The call for Al Mashhadani's resignation on the basis of the declared reasons, were refuted by him in a press conference. He said his resignation was due to his opposition to the sectarian quota system that ruled the Iraqi political scene since the downfall of the former regime.

But the strongest reason behind the concurrence calling for his resignation was due to his stand on December 22, when he last presided over the session which approved the governorate council's election law, in contradiction with the wishes of the Kurds and the SIIC.

Fragile bloc

All this led to the emergence of a fragile bloc in the parliament calling itself "The Parliamentary Coordination Bloc". It is made up of The Iraqi National Accord headed by Eyad Allawi, the Iraqi Front for National Dialogue headed by Saleh Al Mutlaq, the National Reform Movement headed by Ebrahim Al Jafari, the Sadrist movement, Al Fadila party and the Arab Bloc.

There are 100 parliament members in this bloc. And although there are countless and major differences between the components of this bloc, the members have managed meeting points in stressing the necessity of discarding the sectarian quota, and agreeing upon the fact that the federation as present now in the constitution is an interlude to partitioning Iraq.

Al Mashhadani's resignation and replacing him with a candidate from the Accordance Front has become a great source of controversy in the Iraqi political scene.

The parties, which forced the Iraqi parliament speaker to resign, did not take into consideration that the extraordinary session - which was convened to ask him to resign - may form an important turning point in the Iraqi politics and may well turn the table on leaders of certain sects.

Al Mashhadani, in a press conference, hoped that his successor will be nominated away from the sectarian quota system.

Al Mashhadani's invitation was welcomed by leaders of various political blocs, especially by those who oppose the sectarian quota. This coincided with Tarik Al Hashimi, Iraqi Vice President's call for the restructuring of the Presidency Council and Cabinet, by doing away with the sectarian quota.

Such calls for reforms will increase in the future because of the depressing atmosphere that has been created by the sectarian quota system. The sectarian quota system has started to crack, with the National Dialogue Council pulling out of the Accordance front, and others abandoned it, only to make their own decisions.

The United Iraqi Alliance is also falling apart as a result of the serious differences between Al Dawa party and the SIIC. The Iraqi political process has also found itself in an alien atmosphere, as Iraqis have never lived in such turmoil since the establishment of the state in 1921.

Many of those who are a part of the political process in Iraq are seeing that the sectarian quota system does not serve Iraq well in its external relations with its neighbours. They have also become aware that the system impedes Iraq's ability to enter different regional blocs that will benefit the country.

There may not be a real chance to break free from this system because of its nature. However, there are serious indicators that Iraq's political process will be treading a different path from the sectarian oriented route.

Dr Mohammad Akef Jamal is an Iraqi writer based in Dubai.